‘Your mother would have been so proud of you, son,’ Nick said huskily.
Jack saw him out, then went back to the sitting room and thought about what had happened. It had been easier than he’d thought it would be to smooth things over with his father. It was partly the fact that Nick seemed to have mellowed, but it was mainly the fact that his own attitude had changed. Becoming a father himself had made him reassess his priorities. Although his career would always be important to him, his family came first. He wanted to do what was right for them.
He also wanted to do what was right for Alison. That was equally important. Just for a second his mind went racing off as he imagined how his life could be. It would be so wonderful to have her at his side, to live with her and watch their children growing up. They could even have more children if she wanted them—he certainly did. He smiled. He would love a little girl with soft blonde hair and hazel eyes…
He sighed as he drove the images from his mind. It wasn’t going to happen and he had to accept that. Alison had her own life, and it would be wrong for him to interfere at this stage when he had so little to offer her. Unless he was one hundred per cent sure that he could give her the commitment she deserved, he had to stay away from her. There could be no half-measures. It had to be all or nothing. Alison deserved nothing less.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
THE last few days of March brought with them a storm. Rain lashed the countryside and a driving wind made getting around the town extremely difficult. Warnings were posted along the cliff top to warn the unwary about the dangers of going too close to the edge. Everyone at the surgery held their breath and hoped that any visitors would heed the warnings but, inevitably, there were casualties.
Nick and Dragan were called out to a walker who had been blown off the steps leading down to the beach and broken his leg. The man’s wife had raised the alarm, and by the time they got there she was completely hysterical. When Nick phoned the surgery and asked for someone to go and attend to the woman while he and Dragan dealt with her husband, Alison immediately volunteered. Anything that might help to take her mind off her own problems was a welcome relief.
She parked in Mevagissey Road and went to find them. The sea was a churning mass of grey-green waves as it pounded the shore and she sincerely hoped that Nick and Dragan weren’t down on the beach. She finally spotted them perched halfway up the steps. They were trying to attend to the injured man but his wife kept getting in the way.
Alison firmly ushered her out of the way while the two doctors got on with their job. She insisted that the woman should return to her car, but no sooner had they got there than the woman suffered an asthma attack. Alison found her inhaler in her pocket and got her sorted out, but she was relieved when the ambulance arrived to take the couple to hospital.
By the time the ambulance left it was lunchtime and she needed to collect Sam. She headed straight to the nursery, exclaiming in frustration when she discovered the road was blocked by an overturned lorry. Hunting her mobile phone out of her bag, she rang Carol, but there was no answer. Obviously, Carol had already left to collect her other charges from the nursery.
Alison phoned the nursery to warn them that she would be late, but the line was engaged, and it was still engaged when she tried another half a dozen times. By the time the road was clear she was over an hour late, and she could feel herself growing increasingly anxious. Sam would be terribly upset if he thought she’d forgotten him.
Trish answered the door when Alison rang the bell and she looked surprised to her. ‘Did Sam forget something?’
‘I don’t think so,’ Alison replied uncertainly, wondering what Trish meant. ‘I’m sorry I’m so late, but a lorry had overturned and it held me up. Is Sam OK? He’s not upset, is he?’
Trish blanched. ‘Sam’s not here. I thought you must have asked Carol to collect him.’
‘I couldn’t get hold of her,’ Alison said, her heart racing. ‘Why did you think he’d gone home with Carol? Did you see him leave with her?’
‘No. I was in the quiet room when she arrived. Sam wasn’t there when I got back, so I assumed she must have collected him, along with the other two she usually picks up.’
‘Maybe she did,’ Alison said, doing her best not to panic. She took out her phone and rang Carol’s number. ‘Carol, it’s Alison. Is Sam with you?’
Alison felt the floor tilt when the childminder told her that Sam wasn’t there. Trish had gone to fetch Christine Galloway, the owner of the nursery; the pair of them looked worried to death when she told them that Sam wasn’t at Carol’s house either.
‘We need to check that he isn’t hiding somewhere,’ Christine said quickly.
They searched every room, and even checked the garden, but there was no sign of him. Alison felt a wave of sickness envelop her when Christine told her that she was going to telephone the police. Where could Sam be? She glanced out of the window, feeling fear clutch her heart. It was pouring down with rain—what chance did a three-year-old have outside on his own in weather like this?
Jack heard about Sam when Lucy phoned to tell him. He had just left Theatre when the call came through, and it was like a bolt from the blue.
‘What’s happening now?’ he demanded, his heart pounding in fear at the thought of the child going missing.
‘The police have organised a search of the whole town. Dad and Ben have gone along to help,’ Lucy explained. She gave a little sob. ‘I can’t bear to think what Alison must be going through at this moment.’
‘Neither can I,’ Jack said grimly. He thanked Lucy, then went to find Alex and explained that he needed to leave immediately. There was no way on earth that he could carry on working while Sam was missing.
He got changed, then drove straight to Alison’s house. There was a police car parked outside, and a woman police officer answered the door when he rang the bell. Alison came rushing into the hall when she heard his voice. Jack didn’t say a word as he pushed past the policewoman and took her in his arms. He rocked her to and fro as he felt the sobs that shook her.
‘I’m so scared, Jack. I don’t know what I’ll do if anything happens to him…’
‘Nothing is going to happen to him,’ he said fiercely. He held her away from him and looked into her eyes. ‘You have to believe that, sweetheart. Sam needs you to be strong for him.’
‘I’m trying,’ she whispered, her eyes brimming with tears.
‘I know you are.’ He kissed her gently on the mouth, then he let her go. ‘I’m going to ask Lucy to look after Freddie so I can join the search party. We’ll find him, Alison. Trust me. I won’t let anything happen to Sam, I swear.’
He kissed her again, then left. He phoned Lucy as soon as he got home and arranged for her to have Freddie, then grabbed a waterproof jacket and went to join the search party. They’d been split into four teams so they could scour every part of the town. Jack went with his father and Ben while they searched the area around the nursery, but as the hours passed and there was still no sign of Sam he was starting to despair. He needed to find him for Alison’s sake—needed to keep his promise and not let her down.
The group stopped for a break at seven p.m. The weather was atrocious and everyone was soaked to the skin. Jack shook his head when someone offered him a mug of soup. He didn’t care how cold or wet he was. He just cared about Sam. He wandered a little way away from the rest of the group, heading to an area of rough land that was next on their list to be searched. There was a lot of bracken and gorse, and it tore at the legs of his jeans as he forced his way through it.
‘Sam!’ he shouted, cupping his hands round his mouth. ‘Sam, can you hear me? It’s Jack.’
He waited a moment, his ears straining against the roar of the wind, and felt his heart jerk when he heard a faint cry coming from off to his right. He plunged through the undergrowth, ripping his jeans and his skin as he raced towards the sound. When he caught sight of the small figure huddled beneath a huge gorse bush, he could hav
e wept with relief.
Crouching down, he smiled at the little boy. ‘Hi, there. How are you doing? Are you ready to go home and see your mummy?’
Sam reached out his arms and Jack lifted him up. He hugged him tight for a moment, then took off his coat and wrapped it around him. ‘Over here,’ he shouted, when he saw some of the others heading towards him. ‘He’s fine. He’s just very cold and wet.’
A huge cheer erupted. Jack grinned as several people slapped him on the back. One of the police officers got straight on his radio and informed the other groups that Sam had been found, safe and sound. There was some talk of taking the child to hospital to be checked over, but Jack quashed that idea and his father backed him up. The best thing for the child was to be reunited with his mother as quickly as possible.
Alison came running out to meet them when they drew up outside the house. There was such happiness on her face that Jack couldn’t help himself. He handed Sam to her, then bent and kissed her, uncaring that everyone was watching them. He didn’t give a damn if the whole world knew how he felt. He loved her, and tonight had shown him that it was the only thing that really mattered.
‘I love you,’ he told her simply. ‘Now, it’s time you took Sam inside and gave him a bath.’ He pressed a finger to her lips when she went to speak. ‘He needs you. I can wait. My feelings for you aren’t going to change, no matter how long it takes you to decide if you might be able to love me back one day.’
‘I don’t need time to decide that,’ she said softly. Reaching up, she kissed him on the mouth. ‘I love you, too, Jack. And what you’ve done tonight by finding Sam for me just makes me love you even more.’
There was so much that Jack wanted to say to her then but he couldn’t be selfish and claim any more of her attention. He kissed her again, kissed Sam and hugged him too, then left. Ben offered to stay and check Sam over, but Nick insisted on driving him home. He smiled as he pulled up outside Jack’s house.
‘Don’t worry about Freddie. I’ll look after him tonight, and for however long you need to sort things out.’
‘I love her, Dad,’ Jack said simply, and Nick nodded.
‘Then make sure she knows that. Life’s too short to waste even a second of it. If it’s Alison you want, then tell her that. OK?’
‘OK,’ Jack repeated, feeling a lump come to his throat because he would never have expected his father to understand.
He let himself in and took a shower, then made himself a cup of coffee, but didn’t drink it. Those precious seconds were ticking away, and he didn’t intend to let any more of them slip through his fingers. He was going back to Alison’s house and he was going to tell her that he wanted to spend his life with her.
He took a deep breath as a feeling of certainty suddenly filled him. If there were problems that needed dealing with, they would deal with them together.
Alison took a last look at Sam, then tiptoed from the room. Ben had given the child a thorough examination and had decided that there was no reason to take him to hospital. A warm bath and plenty of cuddles were the best medicine he could prescribe, and she’d been more than happy to comply with those instructions. Although she hadn’t managed to get the full story from Sam about how he had come to leave the nursery, it appeared that he had followed Carol out and then wandered off after she’d left.
She went downstairs, feeling herself trembling as the effects of the past few hours caught up with her. She’d been so scared that they might not find Sam, and it was such a relief to have him safely back home. Jack would never know how grateful she was to him for finding her precious child.
A smile softened the lines of strain around her mouth as she thought about what Jack had told her. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that he’d been sincere, and her heart overflowed with happiness at the thought. When she heard the doorbell ring, she hurried to answer it, knowing it would be him. He stepped into the hall and took her in his arms, and she sighed with pleasure. Now everything was right with her world.
He kissed her hungrily, then looked into her eyes. ‘I love you so much. You do believe me, don’t you?’
‘Yes, I believe you.’ She kissed him gently on the lips, then smiled at him. ‘I love you, too, Jack.’
He swept her off her feet and twirled her round, laughing when she gasped. ‘I’m sorry, but I’m so happy I think I might burst!’
Alison laughed with him. ‘And I would hate that to happen. Apart from the fact that I like you just the way you are, think about the mess it would make.’
He chuckled as he set her back on her feet and kissed the tip of her nose. ‘You’re so wonderfully practical. No wonder I love you so much.’
‘So long as you don’t think I’m boring?’
‘Boring?’ He looked at her in amazement. ‘You couldn’t be boring if you tried! Whatever gave you that idea?’
‘Well, I’m not at all like your usual girlfriends, am I? I’m not glamorous or rich, and I don’t go to all sorts of exciting places,’ she pointed out.
‘No, thank heavens!’ He steered her into the sitting room, sat down on the sofa and pulled her down onto his lap. He kissed her softly on the mouth, then smiled at her. ‘You’re nothing like the women I used to go out with. I wouldn’t have fallen in love with you if you were.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes, really.’ He sighed as he pulled her into his arms. ‘I went out with them purely and simply because I knew I would never fall in love with them. It meant that I could focus on what was really important—my career.’
‘So you don’t hanker after those days?’ she said quietly.
‘Not at all. I enjoyed them at the time, but life moves on. I’m a very different person to who I was then.’ He smiled ruefully. ‘I doubt if you’d have fancied me if we’d met a couple of years ago.’
‘Maybe not. I was still trying to come to terms with what had happened to me.’
‘You mean your divorce?’
‘That, and the fact that my confidence was at an all-time low.’ She bit her lip, wondering if she should tell him about Sam’s father, but it was important that he should know the truth.
‘Sam’s father left me when Sam was six months old. He’d been having an affair with a woman he worked with. I only found out about it by accident when I saw them together one day.’ She shrugged. ‘Gareth never tried to deny it. He said it was my fault it had happened.’
‘Your fault? How did he work that out?’ Jack demanded.
‘Apparently I’d become boring after I’d had Sam, and let myself go.’ She paused, but she needed to tell him everything. ‘He said that he no longer fancied me because I was so fat and ugly.’
Jack swore under his breath as he drew her to him. ‘I wish I could have five minutes alone with him. How dare he say such terrible things to you?’
‘I can see now that it was just a way to excuse his own behaviour. Gareth never liked to think he was at fault, so he blamed me. It was the same throughout our marriage. He was always finding fault with what I did. Even though I no longer had any feelings for him by the time we divorced, it hit me hard. It completely eroded my self-esteem.’
‘You are a beautiful woman and a very special person, too,’ Jack stated emphatically. ‘I’ve never met anyone like you before. You’re so warm and giving, so capable and so gorgeous—’
‘Stop!’ she begged, placing her hand over his mouth. ‘My head is going to be so swollen I’ll not be able to get out of that door if you keep on showering me with compliments.’
Jack grinned. ‘We certainly don’t want that happening. I have plans that involve us both leaving this room and going upstairs to somewhere more comfortable.’
Alison shivered at the image that sprang to her mind. She could picture her and Jack walking up the stairs to her bedroom…She blanked out the rest, knowing that it would be impossible to concentrate if she got too carried away. ‘As I said, it took me a long time to find myself again. That’s why I was so scared when I realised the
effect you had on me. I was terrified of being hurt again the way I’d been hurt before.’
‘I will never hurt you, Alison.’ He pressed her hand to his heart and held it there. ‘I swear on my life that I shall do my best to protect you and make you happy. You and Sam, of course.’
‘Thank you.’ Tears welled to her eyes, because there was no doubt that he was telling her the truth. She kissed him on the mouth, then snuggled into his arms, enjoying the fact that she could do so. There were no barriers between them now, and she was free to show him her love any way she chose.
Jack brushed his mouth across her hair. ‘If it’s confession time then I have a confession, too. I tried desperately not to fall in love with you. Even when I realised it had happened, despite my attempts to stop it, I still couldn’t tell you how I felt. That’s why I stayed away. I didn’t want to risk telling you that I loved you.’
‘Because of Freddie?’
‘Yes. He needs so much of my time and attention. It just didn’t seem fair to involve you in my life at the moment.’
‘I thought it was because you weren’t interested in me,’ she admitted. ‘Especially when I saw you with Alex Ross that day.’
‘Really?’ He groaned. ‘I wish I’d known that. Alex had asked me to meet her in Rock so we could discuss this new clinic she’s involved with. There’s nothing going on between us, Alison, I promise you.’
‘I believe you.’ She tipped back her head and looked at him. ‘I would never make you choose between me and Freddie. He needs you, and I’m happy to wait for however long it takes.’
‘Thank you.’ He kissed her gently. ‘I don’t want to wait, though. I want us to be together now, not at some point in the future. I need you beside me, Alison. If there are problems, I know we can solve them if we do it together—you, me, Sam and Freddie.’
Alison wound her arms around his neck. Jack was right. There was no problem too big that they couldn’t solve together. Her heart overflowed with love when he set her on her feet and led her to the stairs. This was the start of a whole new life for all of them.
Caroline Anderson, Sara Morgan, Josie Metcalfe, Jennifer Taylor Page 63
